Nothing but Darkness
by erikadias11
Summary: "All it took was one night, one night to completely change my life around. I don't know where I sit at the moment... I'm not in a rebel group and I haven't been captured yet." Vanessa is your normal seventeen year old girl. Where will she go when she doesn't know what to do? Follow her journey when she is faced with a war.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The small boxes clicked against each other as she searched through the cabinet. "Come on" she begged quietly whilst pulling up the little boxes one at a time to read the labels. Multivitamins, krill oil, panadol... They were running low on panadol, she remembered before dropping the little box into her backpack. The dirty blonde gritted her teeth feeling the tears spring to her eyes as she realised that she was running out of time. She shoved the box back into the cabinet before slipping out of the empty house and entering a new one.

She had been moving around like this for a while now and she was quickly losing hope. The house she now found herself in was quite grand and looked well kept. An idea came to her as she searched the large house, maybe, by some strange chance, there was still some food in here. The storeroom was just outside of the kitchen and to her surpriseit was stocked with food. She grabbed as many cans as she could fit in her back pack before venturing into the bathroom. The bathroom was upstairs and at the back of the house, it had heavy curtains to conceal the windows and a large light on the roof. Now she had two options, close the blinds and turn the light on or leave them off and use her torch. They each had their pros and cons but she decided on turning the lights on and closing the curtains.

She kept on pulling out boxes of pills until she found the one she was looking for. The petite girl shoved the boxes back into the cabinet and closed the door. The cabinet was one of those wall ones with the mirror on the front, so she couldn't help but see her awful reflection. It was something she didn't like. Her usually olive skin was now pale in colour which she assumed was due to lack of vitamin D while her dirty blonde hair had been pushed away by half an inch of dark brown regrowth. The regrowth looked quite good and she made a mental note to keep it there, she felt like being a brunette again. Maybe it was because of the change in events in Wirrawee that being blonde just didn't suit anymore or the fact that the young seventeen year old had matured tremendously in past week. She was almost unrecognisable. What happened to the sweet Vanessa Donaldson that dreamt of being a world class actress? She was lost, that's what. All of those endless drama classes went to nothing now that she was now trying to survive a war and keep the person that she loved alive. There was so much pressure on such a young girl and looking in that mirror made her realise that she was going to have to change if she wanted to survive.

Vanessa stuffed the box of medication into her bludging back pack before flicking the light off and opening the door. She glided around the top floor not quite knowing where the stair case was. Vanessa opened a closed door and entered a bedroom. Again, there was the option of turning the light on, but her gut instinct was not to flick it on, she had so much depending on her and couldn't risk getting caught and even just a little bit of light could probably be seen from outside. She silently cursed herself realising that she was so stupid to just stand in the middle of the bathroom with the light on and no form of defence.

She was so preoccupied with thoughts of the recent changes to her beloved town that she accidentally walked into a desk. As she held her upper leg in pain, and she saw something on the desk that made her stomach drop. She was staring at was a neatly folded khaki uniform with multiple badges pinned on it. And next to it, was a handgun fully loaded with ammunition sitting next to it. Vanessa's hand reached out and found the gun. It felt heavy in her hand.

She was fiddling with the gun switching the safety from on to off when she heard the ground creak behind her. Her head whipped around and she almost had a heart attack as she saw a figure standing only one meter away from. "Don't take another step closer" she told the figure "or I'll shoot", her voice was weak and afraid. _She_ didn't even believe her threat.

"You're not going to shoot me" the man smirked, his Asian accent making it hard for her to understand. He took a little step closer. Vanessa felt her instinct take over and she slid back the side of the pistol, loading it. The sound had made the man hesitate now unsure of himself.

Vanessa's father had taken her out hunting a couple of times, she had watched him shoot but had never had the guts to do it herself. Now, she strangely knew what to do. "I told you" she said gaining confidence "Do. Not. Take. Another. Step". She had her aim at his stomach, pretty sure she didn't want to kill a person just yet. They stood there at a stalemate but that was soon disrupted when the man dove forwards sliding a hidden knife out of his sleeve.

It all happened too fast. Out of fear, she had jammed her finger on the trigger. The thing exploded in her hands and bucked back, causing her to fall over. It seemed like a while before she could sit upright. Dizzy, she looked around and found the man laying stiff on the ground with blood leaking out of him. She used all of her strength to roll the man over, and to her surprise, the cause for all of the bleeding came from a bullet hole right where his heart was.

A wave of emotions crashed around in her head. She had just killed a man. Her hands shook as she picked up the gun again and looked at it. She would have sat there just shocked, but she heard the quiet night begin to stir. Under normal circumstances it would have been alright, but the thing that got her was that the stir turned into a hum of voices, all in another language. And it was moving towards the house. Vanessa stood up and stashed some more ammunition in her backpack before sweeping one last gaze around the room. She froze when she saw a knife pinned against the wall, right where she was standing before he attacked. A wave of relief washed over her as she realised that if the gun hadn't knocked her back, she'd still be lying on the floor next to the Asian man.

Vanessa got pulled back into reality when she heard the door getting slammed open. "Oh shit" she exclaimed. She ran as silently a she could through the house making as little noise as possible when finally the door gave way and army men rushed in. Vanessa could feel the blood pumping through her body as she made her way back to the bathroom, the only place she knew how to get to. As she entered the bathroom, she quickly locked the door behind her. She was now freaking out. She was trapped. Vanessa ducked her head around the curtain and slid open the window. She saw four men dressed in khaki uniforms not even bother to look up and swarmed towards the back door. Vanessa looked around frantically and thankfully found a pipe leading to the ground next to the window on the second floor. She put the handgun on safety and slid it into her belt that held her pants up on her now thin frame and stuck her head back inside the bathroom to look for something. She found one hand towel folded neatly on the bench top. She held it tightly in her hand as she climbed out the window.

Sitting on the little ledge, she threaded the one tea towel behind the pipe. Vanessa reached over and held the tea towel one hand on each side of the pipe. She was so scared but the yelling as that was behind her was more terrifying than anything else. Three... she started to count down, two, one. And then she was falling. She really didn't think this through. How was this different to just jumping from the ledge? All of a sudden, the fall jerked to a stop. The towel stopped sliding when it hit the bolts that joined the pipe to the brick wall. She had no idea what to do. _Don't look down_ she told herself, her fear of heights starting to get the better of her. Vanessa hung there not knowing what to do next. Her sweaty hands started to slip off the towel and then she lost her grip. _Now_ Vanessa was free falling but she was only falling for a second before she hit the ground. When she looked up to see the towel hanging there, she realised that where she was it wasn't far up from the ground... and she was still alive.

Vanessa was on her feet running again. She bolted from the house and ran down the street using the shadows to conceal her. She was only one hundred meters away from the house when she heard boots scuff behind her. She flicked a look around and found a group of soldiers behind her. When was this going to stop? They were gaining ground on her so she slid the gun out of her belt, turned it off safety and loaded it. Vanessa stopped suddenly, legs wide apart -learning her lesson from last time- and turned around with two hands on the gun. She took aim and pulled the trigger within four seconds. The blast made her ears ring but it paid off. The wobbly shot landed in one of the men's thighs, and the benefit of that was that his mate would have to help him to safety. Luck was really on her side today, but the stunt only delayed them as three out of the five men continued chasing after her. She slid the gun on safety and went to tuck the gun back inside her belt but accidently slid it in her underwear. She started off again but hardly made it a meter when two arms shot out of a dark alley way. One hand wrapped around her mouth and the other one pulled her into the alley.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The large hand that was wrapped around her mouth was crushing her nose. She gasped for air but none came. She tried to break free from his iron grip but all the squirming in the world couldn't wiggle her out of this problem.

Vanessa couldn't see the wall, but it came with a shocking force. The hand released her mouth but took her hair, pulled her head back and then cracked it against the wall. And then there was nothing. Darkness swamped her mind.

The three faces in front of her spiralled around before shakily joining to make one clear face. It laughed.

"Well it's good you came around" his condescending voice teased "I was worried that your little head wouldn't have been able to take that blow." Vanessa looked up at him, the spots on his skin suggested that he was old, but he didn't look it. From the looks of it they were in some kind of basement of a house. The main thing that she noticed was that he didn't have an Asian accent and wasn't wearing uniform. She was safe, for now.

"Morrison" a familiar voice called out softly. The man who she now knew as 'Morrison' turned around abruptly.

"What?" he snapped. Vanessa pushed herself off the ground onto a sitting position so that she could see what they were gaping at and she stared. That 'Morrison' guy was really getting on her nerve, they were searching through her bag.

"Get out of my shit!" she said angrily, showing no weakness. Morrison snatched the item of the tall mysterious man and stormed over to her.

"Where did you get this, Missy?" He asked whilst shaking the ammo in her face.

"Why do I have to tell you?" she snarled back. Vanessa was scared, but now her inner actress was at work. This was not the sweetheart Vanessa that everyone was used to, this was someone different.

"Do you know who this belongs to?" he asked her, showing the little engraved letters on the ammo. Vanessa smirked like she knew, but honestly had no clue. "This is 'General Ts'ai's ammo'. So I am going to ask you again. Where did you get this from?"

"I'll tell you once you give me back my shit" she said looking at him right in the eyes.

Another stalemate.

He laughed "I don't know if I like you of not. What's _ya_ name, princess?"

Silence.

The man leant in closer, so close that she could smell the tuna from his last meal. And then she did something she never thought she'd do. Vanessa accumulated a bunch of saliva in the back of her throat and spat it hard in his face. Morrison stumbled backwards whilst trying to wipe it out of his eyes, his back was arched and he faced the ground like the Hunchback of Natradum. This was her chance. Vanessa hopped to her feet and pulled the gun out of her underpants – a place they forgot to check - and flicked it off safety. "I'm going to ask you one more time." She mimicked "Give me back my shit".

Morrison's eyes widened as he saw the gun pointed at him. "Now I'm not prepared to kill you," she continued "like what I did to General Ts'ai because we are on the same side, but…" Vanessa walked forwards and placed the end of the gun on his pants. She loaded it. "This" she said, flicking a glance at the bludge in the 'too tight pants' "is a different story."

"If you shoot the gun, _they_ will hear and come after _you_." He tried to reason.

"No" she corrected. "If I shoot the gun, you won't have any more balls and you will be lying here, squirming on the floor when they come."

"I will tell them where you went"

"Where will I go?"

Blank stare.

"I will describe you to them"

"What will you say?"

"She is a short, blonde girl…"

"Well that really narrows it down. What will you tell them if they ask for a name?"

"She didn't tell me"

"Well that's great" she mocked him, enjoying her power " 'A petite, blonde nameless girl killed the General and shot my balls off' "

Silence.

"You really are a work of art" he admitted after a while. "Hunter" he called out to the familiar boy who look bemused at the situation "Give her back her 'shit'. You know, sweetheart, you can always join me"

"I don't work for anyone." She said seriously "And don't call me that"

"Well then what do I call you?"

"Call me… Riley" She fibbed. Vanessa was too sweet of a name to be one handling a gun. And besides, she didn't want rumours to be going around of Vanessa murdering a man, and this disguise was the protection she needed. But the main reason was because she didn't want Morrison to laugh at her. She hated his condescending tone. It was as if she were too much of a princess to be roughing it with the boys.

She saw the tall lean boy walk over cautiously.

"Get on the ground" Riley ordered Morrison, and he did so. She backed away from him with her gun still pointed at his groin. Riley transferred the nose of the gun to Hunter's pants. She looked up at him whilst still keeping an eye on Morrison. He had long dark hair that fell down to his shoulders and a tanned, angular face that was covered mostly by hair. He was very mysterious. And tall. He handed her the bag.

"If anything is gone from here, I will come straight back and shoot both of your balls off."

Hunter didn't say anything, he just looked down at her with two eyes as black as night.

"Walk me out" Riley ordered him. And he did so. Later, Vanessa tried to reason with herself why she asked him to do that. Her final conclusion was that she needed a hostage right until she disappeared, but she knew that the real reason was because she felt safe with the mysterious man.


End file.
